>>PREVIEW
ANTI FLAG
Wednesday, January 24
Pengrowth Saddledome
War sucks, let’s party.
It’s a catchy slogan for sure. And even though it is plastered all over the website belonging to Pittsburgh’s Anti Flag, it’s more than just a clever marketing scheme.
You see, while most guys in punk bands are worried about how their faux-hawks look or how much tail they can score on the next Vans Warped Tour, Anti Flag guitarist Justin Sane is working to establish more military-free zones. He is logging on to the websites of not-for-profit media organizations. He is raising awareness about the effects of depleted uranium on the inhabitants of war torn countries. He is worried about the war being waged against the middle class by the North American power elite. At the same time, his band plays some of the catchiest politically charged rock to ever blast out of the speakers. Although his music carries a message, it’s full of upbeat, hook-heavy anthems. Thus, war sucks, let’s party.
"I love to play music," says Sane. "The kind of music that we play – that’s my favourite kind of music. As an artist, that is the kind of music I like to create. That’s also the kind of music I listen to. That in itself is why you hear Anti Flag sounding the way we do."
And Anti Flag sound pretty much like you would expect. After hopping between indie labels, in 2006 the band inked a deal with RCA to put out their most recent album, For Blood and Empire. They’re also veterans of the aforementioned Warped Tour, so crunchy guitars, shout-along vocals and punchy choruses are the order of the day.
"I don’t think we necessarily need to rewrite the book on punk rock," says Sane. "For me it’s about playing the kind of music I grew up listening to, that I really enjoyed, but trying to put a twist on it."
While the music may sound like several other upstart punk bands, it’s the message that sets Anti Flag apart from their three-chord brethren. Like many musicians, Sane is influenced by bands he discovered in his youth like The Clash, Minor Threat and The Dead Kennedys. He also says that Anti Flag is very much a product of the political climate of his hometown, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
"It’s a left-leaning town, a labour-union town. It had a lot of roots in the labour movement," he says. "I think it would be more difficult for a band like Anti Flag to come from L.A. or Kansas City or Tempe, Arizona. There were so many people within the music community that were involved with political activism, that growing up in the way we did in this environment we just believed that music was political.
"I was also raised by a mother and father who were political activists so I was very interested in issues of social and political justice and economic justice. It just made sense that I would write about those topics."
Of course, when a band is politically charged, there is the chance that they will be misinterpreted. In a country like America where the line between patriotism and nationalism is continually being blurred, Anti Flag has come under fire. Initially the band took its name in response to people who used the American flag to mask their intolerance. Since then the band has earned a reputation for being not only anti flag, but anti war and anti fascism. Sane claims they aren’t as contrary as their critics would have you believe.
"I don’t think it’s so much about being against. I think it’s being for positive, progressive ideas and for being for humanity, being for people," he says. "In general that is the message that Anti Flag tries to put forward with the things that we sing about and the actions that we take in our daily lives as well." |
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